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Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights
Well-behaved women don’t make history: difficult women do.
Feminism’s success is down to complicated, contradictory, imperfect women, who fought each other as well as fighting for equal rights. Helen Lewis argues that too many of these pioneers have been whitewashed or forgotten in our modern search for feel-good, inspirational heroines. It’s time to reclaim the history of feminism as a history of difficult women.
In this book, you’ll meet the working-class suffragettes who advocated bombings and arson; the princess who discovered why so many women were having bad sex; the pioneer of the refuge movement who became a men’s rights activist; the ‘striker in a sari’ who terrified Margaret Thatcher; the wronged Victorian wife who definitely wasn’t sleeping with the prime minister; and the lesbian politician who outraged the country. Taking the story up to the present with the twenty-first-century campaign for abortion services, Helen Lewis reveals the unvarnished – and unfinished – history of women’s rights.
Drawing on archival research and interviews, Difficult Women is a funny, fearless and sometimes shocking narrative history, which shows why the feminist movement has succeeded – and what it should do next. The battle is difficult, and we must be difficult too.
Feminism’s success is down to complicated, contradictory, imperfect women, who fought each other as well as fighting for equal rights. Helen Lewis argues that too many of these pioneers have been whitewashed or forgotten in our modern search for feel-good, inspirational heroines. It’s time to reclaim the history of feminism as a history of difficult women.
In this book, you’ll meet the working-class suffragettes who advocated bombings and arson; the princess who discovered why so many women were having bad sex; the pioneer of the refuge movement who became a men’s rights activist; the ‘striker in a sari’ who terrified Margaret Thatcher; the wronged Victorian wife who definitely wasn’t sleeping with the prime minister; and the lesbian politician who outraged the country. Taking the story up to the present with the twenty-first-century campaign for abortion services, Helen Lewis reveals the unvarnished – and unfinished – history of women’s rights.
Drawing on archival research and interviews, Difficult Women is a funny, fearless and sometimes shocking narrative history, which shows why the feminist movement has succeeded – and what it should do next. The battle is difficult, and we must be difficult too.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2020
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August 27, 2023
این کتاب به خوبی نشان می‌دهد که فمینیسم یک ایدئولوژی‌ست. نویسنده هیچ تلاشی برای مخاطب قرار دادن گروه‌های گسترده‌تر و متنوع‌تری از زنان نمی‌کند و چالش‌های بزرگ پیش روی فمینیسم را نادیده می‌گیرد. کارنامه‌ی فمینیسم نقاط تاریک زیادی دارد، در زمینه‌ی سلامت روان زنان، اشتغال، آزادی انتخاب، خانواده، پرنوگرافی و غیره. کافی‌ست بپرسیم چرا فمینیست‌ها امروز در برابر نقض حقوق جنسیت‌محور ساکتند*. (مراد از حقوق جنسیت‌محور جداسازی‌ها یا اختصاصی‌سازی‌هایی‌ست که در فعالیت‌ها و مکان‌های عمومی، به منظور تامین امنیت زنان و رعایت انصاف در حقشان، صورت می‌گیرد. مثل جداسازی ورزش زنان از ورزش مردان، جداسازی زندان زنان از زندان مردان، جداسازی توالت زنانه از توالت مردانه، جداسازی رختکن زنانه از رختکن مردانه، جداسازی بازرسی بدنی زنانه و مردانه در مکان‌هایی مثل فرودگاه یا اختصاص دادن اتاق‌هایی به مادران شیرده که مردان حق ورود به آنها را ندارند). بگذارید به نمونه‌ی تازه‌ای از پیامدهای این خیانت فمینیستی به زنان اشاره کنم. دختر دوازده ساله‌ای در سرویس بهداشتی مدرسه به دست یک پسر مورد تجاوز قرار می‌گیرد. با این حال، مسئولان مدرسه را از ماجرا مطلع نمی‌کند، چون واهمه دارد دیگران او را متعصب و "ترنس‌فوب" بدانند. واقعا سرسام‌آور است
اگر کسانی جنبشی سیاسی-اجتماعی به راه انداختند و اسمش را گذاشتند «حقیقت»، از این واقعیت نمی‌شود نتیجه گرفت که آرمان‌های آن جنبش و اعمال بنیانگذارانش در سمت حقیقت‌اند و اگر کسی با آن جنبش مخالفت کرد، دشمن حقیقت است. همین نکته‌ی به ظاهر ساده، در فضای سیاسی-اجتماعی روز، دستمایه‌ی استدلال‌های مغالطه‌آمیز و اتهام‌زنی به دیگران می‌شود. به همین منوال از این واقعیت که کسی مخالف فمینیسم است، نمی‌توان نتیجه گرفت که او ضدزن است. نمونه‌ی بارزی از این موضوع نویسنده‌ی همین کتاب است. هرکه فمینیسم را مردود می‌شمرد از نگاه او خطرناک و متعلق به جریان راست افراطی است. وقتی محافظه‌کاران در برابر روایت مسلط دست به مقاومت می‌زنند، معمولا از سوی فمینیست‌های لیبرال غالب متهم به "ضدفمینیست" بودن می‌شوند که نوعی ناسزا به شمار می‌رود. روایت مسلط از این قرار است: مردان سرکوبگر و زن‌ستیزند، زنان قربانیانی ستم‌دیده‌اند، همه‌ی مردان آرزوی تجاوز به ما را در سر می‌پرورند، ولو از ما خواستگاری نکنند یا حتی پاسخ تماس‌هایمان را ندهند، ده بار به او پیام داده‌ام، به گمانم شماره‌ام را مسدود کرده
بسیاری از جنبش‌های سیاسی-اجتماعی یک آرمان اولیه دارند که کارکردش جذب مخاطب و کوبیدن مخالفان است. ولی پشت آن آرمان اولیه (و معمولا معقول) آرمان‌های رادیکالشان را پنهان کرده‌اند. مثلا در مورد فمینیسم آرمان اولیه برابری حقوق زن و مرد است. کارکرد این آرمان از طرفی جذب مخاطب است-اگر به برابری حقوق زن و مرد باور داری، در جرگه‌ی ما هستی. ما همه فمینیستیم-و از طرف دیگر کوبیدن مخالفان-به محض این‌که شما با فمینیسم مخالفتی کردی، از سوی فمینیست‌ها متهم می‌شوی به این که برابری حقوق زن و مرد را قبول نداری یا ضدزنی. برابری حقوق زن و مرد درِ ورودی فمینیسم است. ولی پشتش ایدئولوژی‌ای است که تا انکار تفاوت‌های بیولوژیکی دو جنس هم پیش می‌رود. زنان و مردان بسیاری هستند که به برابری حقوق زن و مرد اعتقاد قوی دارند، اما هرگز خودشان را فمینیست نمی‌خوانند
پی‌نوشت: در وضعیت متفاوت ایران، به جنبش فرهنگی آزادی‌خواهانه‌ای نیازمندیم که، به جای تقلید جریان‌های مد روز غربی، از جایگاه و شان برابر زن و مرد نوعی وفاق اجتماعی بسازد
*الان کار به جایی رسیده که یک ژورنال فمینیستی، عضو شورای سردبیری‌اش را به خاطر دفاع از زنان و حقوق جنسیت‌محور اخراج می‌کند. این رسوایی بزرگی برای فمینیسم است
January 11, 2021
Just as the title suggests, this non-fiction was split into eleven distinct but overlapping sections that each focused on a different area in the fight for equality between the sexes. Changing societal opinion is never an easy task and these individuals, both historically and in our contemporary society, who chose to go against this accepted grain are often branded as bossy, petulant, witchy, bitchy, frigid, and so much worse. In short, they are difficult women.
I found this essay collection to be empowering, illuminating, highly accessible, and informative. Every chapter was well-researched, highly detailed, easy to follow, and provided me with many names, dates, laws, and areas of history to go away and research into further. This both depicted how far we have come whilst also making us aware for how far we still have to go. I was as enraged as I was engrossed and this did its job perfectly of bolstering the reader to do their own part, no matter how small, in the ceaseless fight for equality.
I found this essay collection to be empowering, illuminating, highly accessible, and informative. Every chapter was well-researched, highly detailed, easy to follow, and provided me with many names, dates, laws, and areas of history to go away and research into further. This both depicted how far we have come whilst also making us aware for how far we still have to go. I was as enraged as I was engrossed and this did its job perfectly of bolstering the reader to do their own part, no matter how small, in the ceaseless fight for equality.
January 4, 2022
Definitely an informative and accessible book. If you have an interest in feminism then I would recommend this book.
December 21, 2021
Girls just wanna have fun
damental human rights
- Slogan on a banner
WHAT THIS BOOK ISN’T
I was after a history of feminism and in my male brain that would be a cool judicious account of all the great names, you know, Mary Shelley, Betty Friedan, Simone de Beauvoir, Germaine Greer, but nope, not at all, they only get some glancing references. This book is all about practical women, the feminists who did something to make women’s lives better, not the feminists who analysed why things were so terrible. You have to have both, but this book is about the doers.
ANOTHER GREAT QUOTE FROM ANDREA DWORKIN
Her definition of feminism:
A political practice of fighting male supremacy on behalf of women as a class, including all the women you don’t like, including all the women you don’t want to be around, including all the women who used to be your best friends whom you don’t want anything to do with anymore.
WHAT IS DIFFICULT ABOUT DIFFICULT?
It kind of seems as if everybody eventually finds every single other person difficult these days, it’s been an irritable decade. I see that mostly this book gets 4 & 5 stars but very occasionally 1 or 2 because predictably it has been judged to be transphobic due (it appears) to using the term “male bodied” in one chapter. I can see that for some Helen Lewis herself is a difficult woman to be writing the history of feminism as she’s too white, too posh and too rich and too often on the television. (I realised half way through I’d seen her many times – ah, THAT Helen Lewis!)
NAMING NAMES
The issues and the difficult women are :
Divorce : Caroline Norton
The vote : Annie Kenney
Sex : Marie Stopes
Play : Lily Parr
Work : Jayaben Desai
Safety : Erin Pizzey
Love : Maureen Colquhoun
Education : Sophia Jex-Blake
Time : Selma James
Abortion : Diana King, Colette Devlin and Kitty O'Kane
Aside from Marie Stopes and Erin Pizzey, these were obscure names to me. Maureen Colquhoun, for instance, was the first out lesbian Member of Parliament in the 1970s and has been completely airbrushed from political history since then. I had never heard of her. (She died aged 92 in February this year.)
HOW DIFFICULT IS DIFFICULT ANYWAY? ANSWER : VERY
Erin Pizzey is the embodiment of the difficult woman. She is famous for establishing the first women’s refuge in Britain. She didn’t wait for any kind of official approval, she just went ahead and did it in 1971. Two years later a male MP got up in the House of Commons and opened a discussion on domestic violence, praising her Chiswick Aid Centre. She was watching from the public gallery. The chamber of the House of Commons was nearly empty. The MP said that if the debate had been about cruelty to dogs it would have been packed.
Women’s refuges – couldn’t be more feminist, right? Right. But when Erin Pizzey met up with other feminists she took an instant dislike and refused to have anything to do with them. It seems they were ultraleft Maoist feminists, but you might have thought she would meet some non-Maoists later. By 2009 she was writing for the Daily Mail an article called
Why I loathe feminism... and believe it will ultimately destroy the family
describing feminism as “a lie” and writing that “we must stop demonising men and start healing the rift that feminism has created between men and women”. And now she is “an advocate for the Men’s Rights Movement, serving as editor-at-large of the anti-feminist website "A Voice for Men”. The boss of that site, Paul Elam, has called feminists "human garbage” and says that he would never vote guilty in a rape trial if he was a juror no matter what the evidence was. (For more information about these vermin see the excellent book Men who Hate Women by Laura Bates*).
So as Helen Lewis says “How does a woman go from founding England’s first refuge for domestic violence victims to hanging out with MRMs?”
The answer to that deserves a book in itself. HL mentions her own experience of what she calls “purity politics” and also “The Intersectionality War” which broke out on the internet in 2011 after the publication of How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran :
The next few years were bloody : feminism’s equivalent of a civil war. Fair and unfair criticisms blended into one giant screaming mass, fuelled by Twitter, and left everyone hurt and angry…. Online feminism became obsessed with language. A kind of priesthood had sprung up to adjudicate what terms could be used
You can tell HL is still reeling from all this :
Outrage had become prized for its own sake and online feminists had lost the ability to distinguish between genuine anger and mere spite. …My own trashing was a traumatic experience. I was accused of endangering lives because my rhetoric was so hate-filled that people reading it would surely kill themselves. I was a racist, I was a transphobe
So there is a parallel between Erin Pizzey and the Maoists of 1972 and Helen Lewis and the trans rights movement of 2011, I guess. I think HL or someone else probably needs to write a whole book about how contemporary feminism became such a minefield.**
SWIRLING, SURGING, EXHILARATING, DEPRESSING, UPLIFTING, LIKE FLOWING WATER, NEVER STILL FOR ONE MOMENT
I liked this a lot. Not the book I thought I was going to read, and like being locked in a washing machine of ideas with the setting on FULL SPIN.
*https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
**Has anyone tried to do this?
February 14, 2021
When I started this book, I was sure I was going to like it. The premise - honest stories about the imperfect lives of the women in feminist history - is so good, and after the first chapter, I was so keen to read more, learn more and be inspired of the struggles and successes of other women. And partially this book lived up to the promise. The historical stories were fascinating, empowering, and very necessary. But, boy, was I let down by Lewis's ignorant opinions throughout the middle section of the book.
I have 3 problems with this book - 2 minor ones, which I would've let pass pretty easily, and 1 major, which ruined the reading experience for me.
1) Lewis is explicitly negative towards sex work. That wouldn't be a problem in itself if she would explain herself properly, but instead, she just uses strawman arguments and presents sex work as something no woman would choose if she had other options. As she states herself, she doesn't watch porn, and when she tries to talk about it.. well it's clear she hasn't seen much of it.
2) Within the education chapter the topic is suddenly changed to the boys' challenges in schooling. That is an important thing to talk about, but it completely falls out of the narrative of the book, and I just couldn't understand why Lewis decided to dedicate the room in her book to this.
3) And now for the major one - total misrepresentation of what trans people and the contemporary LGBTQ + community stand for. It is very upsetting knowing how little the general public knows about the trans issues to read this woman - who either doesn't bother to gather information on what trans people think or decides to misrepresent them intentionally - rambling on about how "gender ideology" goes against what women have been fighting for. Her arguments on the subject are different variations of "I am all for trans people, BUT..." These "but"s make a strawman out of trans activists, for example, by claiming that they think it's transphobic if a lesbian is not interested in pursuing a relationship with trans women with male genitalia. The thing is - no one, except some anonymous marginal twitter account owners actually think this way. I don't know any trans people who think that people not being interested in sleeping with them are transphobes, but Lewis presents it as a default opinion of the trans community. Lewis artificially juxtaposes femininity with deviances of the traditional gender binary and creates conflict where there shouldn't be any. And I don't believe she is doing this accidentally, since she goes to describe how she has been criticized by others about these views - which means that she's had plenty of reason to examine the validity of her claims. Which she hasn't.
It's one thing to be a difficult woman - persistent, not willing to be nice, shy, and put your needs last - but it's another thing to be a bigoted woman, and we shouldn't mix two of those together.
There are good aspects of "Difficult Women", and I enjoyed reading parts of it. I also learned something new about history. But I think if you want to read the book, listen and read more about the lives of trans people in addition to it because the author clearly hasn't.
I have 3 problems with this book - 2 minor ones, which I would've let pass pretty easily, and 1 major, which ruined the reading experience for me.
1) Lewis is explicitly negative towards sex work. That wouldn't be a problem in itself if she would explain herself properly, but instead, she just uses strawman arguments and presents sex work as something no woman would choose if she had other options. As she states herself, she doesn't watch porn, and when she tries to talk about it.. well it's clear she hasn't seen much of it.
2) Within the education chapter the topic is suddenly changed to the boys' challenges in schooling. That is an important thing to talk about, but it completely falls out of the narrative of the book, and I just couldn't understand why Lewis decided to dedicate the room in her book to this.
3) And now for the major one - total misrepresentation of what trans people and the contemporary LGBTQ + community stand for. It is very upsetting knowing how little the general public knows about the trans issues to read this woman - who either doesn't bother to gather information on what trans people think or decides to misrepresent them intentionally - rambling on about how "gender ideology" goes against what women have been fighting for. Her arguments on the subject are different variations of "I am all for trans people, BUT..." These "but"s make a strawman out of trans activists, for example, by claiming that they think it's transphobic if a lesbian is not interested in pursuing a relationship with trans women with male genitalia. The thing is - no one, except some anonymous marginal twitter account owners actually think this way. I don't know any trans people who think that people not being interested in sleeping with them are transphobes, but Lewis presents it as a default opinion of the trans community. Lewis artificially juxtaposes femininity with deviances of the traditional gender binary and creates conflict where there shouldn't be any. And I don't believe she is doing this accidentally, since she goes to describe how she has been criticized by others about these views - which means that she's had plenty of reason to examine the validity of her claims. Which she hasn't.
It's one thing to be a difficult woman - persistent, not willing to be nice, shy, and put your needs last - but it's another thing to be a bigoted woman, and we shouldn't mix two of those together.
There are good aspects of "Difficult Women", and I enjoyed reading parts of it. I also learned something new about history. But I think if you want to read the book, listen and read more about the lives of trans people in addition to it because the author clearly hasn't.
January 9, 2021
ARC received in exchange for an honest review
Feminism isn't a single idea, and is interpreted differently by every individual and their experiences. 'Difficult Women' never professes to be the definitive guide to what feminism is, but rather it is a book that is just one interpretation and one voice. However, what it does do is link a number of historical battles and difficult women together, distilled into 11 categories spill into the modern feminist era. I took a lot away from from this. From the different women that are given a fresh voice, to hearing how each of them define how they view feminism or their fight for equality was incredibly facinating. None of these women are perfect, all are difficult, and all of them are complicated individuals.
Some of these women included Annie Kenny, who was deeply involved in the Suffragette movement. Exasperated at lack of movement towards women's votes, she moved towards more extreme forms of activism in a heavily male dominated legal system. Any woman who fought for these rights was played down, brushed off as unimportant. Helen Lewis really helped bring to life what Annie Kenny was a person, a working class woman who just wanted to have what men had, and has somehow been left to fall into obscurity because she never fitted the Suffragette narrative of this upper class, well spoken woman.
There's also Marie Stopes, who was one for the first to grant access to birth control to desperate women. Her clinics granted women a degree of sexual liberation they'd never seen before, yet she was also incredibly snobbish, conservative, anti semetic and anti lesbian. She believed in eugenics and was also vehemently against abortion. Difficult women are not perfect, and sometimes their agenda, although good for the masses, is undertaken for selfish and flawed reasons.
The chapter of time was perhaps the most personal for me. It talks of the divergence of pay between men and women in their 30s, as women move to part time and unskilled work in order to take on the role of motherhood and child carer as this is what society has come to expect of women. Women as a result have less downtime, and less free time in general compared to their male counterparts because society often makes us feel guilty into doing the majority of the housework and organising. Our time never seems to be our own, and this rang so true for myself as a mother.
Interesting deep dive into some facinating 'difficult women' that helps open the doors into further research on feminism and equal rights.
Feminism isn't a single idea, and is interpreted differently by every individual and their experiences. 'Difficult Women' never professes to be the definitive guide to what feminism is, but rather it is a book that is just one interpretation and one voice. However, what it does do is link a number of historical battles and difficult women together, distilled into 11 categories spill into the modern feminist era. I took a lot away from from this. From the different women that are given a fresh voice, to hearing how each of them define how they view feminism or their fight for equality was incredibly facinating. None of these women are perfect, all are difficult, and all of them are complicated individuals.
Some of these women included Annie Kenny, who was deeply involved in the Suffragette movement. Exasperated at lack of movement towards women's votes, she moved towards more extreme forms of activism in a heavily male dominated legal system. Any woman who fought for these rights was played down, brushed off as unimportant. Helen Lewis really helped bring to life what Annie Kenny was a person, a working class woman who just wanted to have what men had, and has somehow been left to fall into obscurity because she never fitted the Suffragette narrative of this upper class, well spoken woman.
There's also Marie Stopes, who was one for the first to grant access to birth control to desperate women. Her clinics granted women a degree of sexual liberation they'd never seen before, yet she was also incredibly snobbish, conservative, anti semetic and anti lesbian. She believed in eugenics and was also vehemently against abortion. Difficult women are not perfect, and sometimes their agenda, although good for the masses, is undertaken for selfish and flawed reasons.
The chapter of time was perhaps the most personal for me. It talks of the divergence of pay between men and women in their 30s, as women move to part time and unskilled work in order to take on the role of motherhood and child carer as this is what society has come to expect of women. Women as a result have less downtime, and less free time in general compared to their male counterparts because society often makes us feel guilty into doing the majority of the housework and organising. Our time never seems to be our own, and this rang so true for myself as a mother.
Interesting deep dive into some facinating 'difficult women' that helps open the doors into further research on feminism and equal rights.
April 14, 2020
Feminism is a fight for equality-- it doesn't come from or aim for perfection. Here, Helen Lewis gives a welcome intro to some of the women who might not always have got it right, but still tried to get it done. This is her attempt to make sure progress doesn't erase the struggle. We need to know how we got to now and who fought for the rights we take for granted in order to take their successes and move them forward. It's a determinedly provocative book, a call for everyone to look harder at the world around them, understand diverse voices by listening to what they say, ACT for equality.
There's so much more to do, but in reading this you can be bolstered by seeing what can be achieved when women decide to be DIFFICULT.
ARC via Netgalley
There's so much more to do, but in reading this you can be bolstered by seeing what can be achieved when women decide to be DIFFICULT.
ARC via Netgalley
April 1, 2022
Non dovete chiedere per favore.
Potrete essere difficili senza che nessuno vi dia della difficile
Essere donna non significa essere femminista.
Essere femminista non significa essere perfette (e ci mancherebbe!).
Così la Lewis vuole ricondurre alcune figure emblematiche ed il movimento stesso ad una dimensione meno epica e più umana.
Troppo spesso le macchie sono state candeggiate ed necessario restituire un’immagine più veritiera, ossia quella che ci racconta di personalità complicate e, a volte, contraddittorie, insomma non certamente monocromatiche.
Donne arrestate, torturate, denigrate per aver portato avanti le loro idee ma le stesse donne hanno ristretto il campo al loro vissuto oppure hanno radicalizzato e/o escluso gli altri punti vista.
Attenzione, le 11 battaglie annunciate nel titolo hanno tutte come protagoniste donne inglesi ciò non toglie che le tematiche siano assolutamente transnazionali.
Nello specifico si parla di:
divorzio
voto
sesso
gioco (sportivo)
lavoro
sicurezza
amore
istruzione
tempo
aborto .
Molte domande rimangono senza risposta.
Molte problematiche insolute.
La questione femminile è ancora aperta e, per di più, tormentata dalle continue polemiche, divisioni che hanno nel tempo solo i detrattori facendo spesso fare dei passi da gambero al movimento.
Helen Lewis, è una scrittrice e giornalista britannica con una brillante carriera ci parla degli attacchi che lei stessa ha subito.
Lo racconta, a mio avviso, senza voler fare la vittima ma con il chiaro intento di far capire il pericolo amplificato dalla rete della diffusione dell’odio.
In ogni caso, essere difficile, in fin dei conti, è una prerogativa del movimento femminista stesso.
“Uccidere l’angelo del focolare”, come scrisse Virginia Woolf (a sua volta citando una vecchia poesia inglese), vuol dire scontrarsi con immagini del femminile talmente calcificate che non possono essere demolite se non con la forza.
Seppure la storia del movimento racchiuda anche questo, non è un richiamo alla violenza fisica quello che si intende ma alla forza verbale ed intellettuale; alla capacità di risultare persone problematiche pur di rendere visibili le ingiustizie.
Le donne devono combattere quella che Lewis chiama «la tirannia della gradevolezza» perché questa è una prerogativa (cioè essere gentili, piacevoli ecc.) che viene considerata innata nelle donne.
Beh, non è così.
Così come non è reale pensare che le donne che si sono spese nelle battaglie sociali e politiche siano donne che devono piacere per forza.
Insomma:
”La donna difficile non è sgarbata, gretta o cattiva. E’ solo decisa a fare la problematica se la situazione lo richiede; l’esigente se la circostanza lo vuole e l’ostinata se qualcuno prova a raggirarla. Non le importa un fico secco se “si è sempre fatto così”. E’ insensibile all’idea che per le donne sia “naturale” agire in un certo modo o rassegnarsi a uno status inferiore.”
Potrete essere difficili senza che nessuno vi dia della difficile
Essere donna non significa essere femminista.
Essere femminista non significa essere perfette (e ci mancherebbe!).
Così la Lewis vuole ricondurre alcune figure emblematiche ed il movimento stesso ad una dimensione meno epica e più umana.
Troppo spesso le macchie sono state candeggiate ed necessario restituire un’immagine più veritiera, ossia quella che ci racconta di personalità complicate e, a volte, contraddittorie, insomma non certamente monocromatiche.
Donne arrestate, torturate, denigrate per aver portato avanti le loro idee ma le stesse donne hanno ristretto il campo al loro vissuto oppure hanno radicalizzato e/o escluso gli altri punti vista.
Attenzione, le 11 battaglie annunciate nel titolo hanno tutte come protagoniste donne inglesi ciò non toglie che le tematiche siano assolutamente transnazionali.
Nello specifico si parla di:
divorzio
voto
sesso
gioco (sportivo)
lavoro
sicurezza
amore
istruzione
tempo
aborto .
Molte domande rimangono senza risposta.
Molte problematiche insolute.
La questione femminile è ancora aperta e, per di più, tormentata dalle continue polemiche, divisioni che hanno nel tempo solo i detrattori facendo spesso fare dei passi da gambero al movimento.
Helen Lewis, è una scrittrice e giornalista britannica con una brillante carriera ci parla degli attacchi che lei stessa ha subito.
Lo racconta, a mio avviso, senza voler fare la vittima ma con il chiaro intento di far capire il pericolo amplificato dalla rete della diffusione dell’odio.
In ogni caso, essere difficile, in fin dei conti, è una prerogativa del movimento femminista stesso.
“Uccidere l’angelo del focolare”, come scrisse Virginia Woolf (a sua volta citando una vecchia poesia inglese), vuol dire scontrarsi con immagini del femminile talmente calcificate che non possono essere demolite se non con la forza.
Seppure la storia del movimento racchiuda anche questo, non è un richiamo alla violenza fisica quello che si intende ma alla forza verbale ed intellettuale; alla capacità di risultare persone problematiche pur di rendere visibili le ingiustizie.
Le donne devono combattere quella che Lewis chiama «la tirannia della gradevolezza» perché questa è una prerogativa (cioè essere gentili, piacevoli ecc.) che viene considerata innata nelle donne.
Beh, non è così.
Così come non è reale pensare che le donne che si sono spese nelle battaglie sociali e politiche siano donne che devono piacere per forza.
Insomma:
”La donna difficile non è sgarbata, gretta o cattiva. E’ solo decisa a fare la problematica se la situazione lo richiede; l’esigente se la circostanza lo vuole e l’ostinata se qualcuno prova a raggirarla. Non le importa un fico secco se “si è sempre fatto così”. E’ insensibile all’idea che per le donne sia “naturale” agire in un certo modo o rassegnarsi a uno status inferiore.”
April 16, 2022
The title captured my attention, although I hesitated several times before committing - last thing I wanted was to dedicate my limited evening relaxation hours to reading about the complex history of feminism! However, this turned out to so very different to my expectations (in a good way)!
The book was not only informative and interesting from start to finish, but also a fun read that kept me entertained. The author Helen Lewis, a journalist, had wit and humour, and also a way of explaining complex concepts in a light, everyday use style - and in fact, many a times brought me to laugh out loud too.
Feminism, how it’s interpreted, what it means, its objectives and outcomes - this was explored through spotlighting a number of British “difficult women” from history, split across 11 chapters on different thematic areas, e.g. abortion laws, education rights, divorce laws, women’s suffrage, domestic abuse and shelter provisions, migrant workers’ rights, women’s time poverty, etc.
No one changed the world by being nice, and Ms Lewis brings to life the pioneering “difficult women’s” long forgotten contributions that shapes the modern world we live in today, and the commodities of life we take for granted - just think, a century ago, women could not vote, own property, or control their fertility in Britain. We see these women’s extent of dedication and activism, often stemmed from passion and commitment to the issue, and often out of sheer helplessness in personal circumstances. What I appreciated very much is that Ms Lewis refrained from presenting a one-dimensional glorified view of these women, e.g. Marie Stopes, Annie Kenney, Erin Pizzey, Jayaben Desai, etc. and instead offered a very balanced one - with flaws and imperfections, which is very important to me, to not whitewash facts and British history.
There’s of course a long list of the many more battles that are yet to be won, to dismantle patriarchy and structural frameworks that uphold this system, which continues to contribute to the inequality of the sexes, but I thought the issues covered were very well researched and relevant to understanding our place in the world, taking into account the intersectionality of identities which further compounds oppression in different communities.
I loved the epilogue which defines what it is to be difficult over 3 pages- it’s super!
The book was not only informative and interesting from start to finish, but also a fun read that kept me entertained. The author Helen Lewis, a journalist, had wit and humour, and also a way of explaining complex concepts in a light, everyday use style - and in fact, many a times brought me to laugh out loud too.
Feminism, how it’s interpreted, what it means, its objectives and outcomes - this was explored through spotlighting a number of British “difficult women” from history, split across 11 chapters on different thematic areas, e.g. abortion laws, education rights, divorce laws, women’s suffrage, domestic abuse and shelter provisions, migrant workers’ rights, women’s time poverty, etc.
No one changed the world by being nice, and Ms Lewis brings to life the pioneering “difficult women’s” long forgotten contributions that shapes the modern world we live in today, and the commodities of life we take for granted - just think, a century ago, women could not vote, own property, or control their fertility in Britain. We see these women’s extent of dedication and activism, often stemmed from passion and commitment to the issue, and often out of sheer helplessness in personal circumstances. What I appreciated very much is that Ms Lewis refrained from presenting a one-dimensional glorified view of these women, e.g. Marie Stopes, Annie Kenney, Erin Pizzey, Jayaben Desai, etc. and instead offered a very balanced one - with flaws and imperfections, which is very important to me, to not whitewash facts and British history.
There’s of course a long list of the many more battles that are yet to be won, to dismantle patriarchy and structural frameworks that uphold this system, which continues to contribute to the inequality of the sexes, but I thought the issues covered were very well researched and relevant to understanding our place in the world, taking into account the intersectionality of identities which further compounds oppression in different communities.
I loved the epilogue which defines what it is to be difficult over 3 pages- it’s super!
February 28, 2020
Difficult Women is a perfectly fitting title for this book; not because they were difficult but because it is definitely how they would’ve been portrayed at the time. Difficult in this sense actually means empowered, inspired and not afraid to speak the brutal truth. Not simply accepting that women should just put up and shut up about the lack of rights we have or once had in comparison to men. I am a firm believer in egalitarianism (equal rights for everyone) so I would class myself as a feminist but also someone who seeks equality across the board. I have read many, many books on this topic yet this was so refreshing and original showcasing those who have often been neglected in terms of their achievements. Sometimes fact-based nonfiction can be dry and a slog but I found this was eminently readable and raced through its thoroughly enjoyable pages like I would a fiction book. I urge those of you who wish to learn more about the history of feminism to pick this up. It’s well worth your time. Many thanks to Jonathan Cape for an ARC.
July 19, 2022
🗓 24.06.2022
След като Върховният съд на САЩ отмени конституционно гарантираното право на аборт, и част от южните и западните щати моментално скокнаха с вече подготвена пълна забрана на аборта на тяхна територия (включително без значение на здравословни причини или поради изнасилване), книги като тази стават още по-важни. Не става дума за глупости от сорта на движения като #metoo, които са изпразнени от смисъл и дълбочина. Става дума за фундамент на живота, извоюван относително наскоро и торпилиран от религиозни екстремисти обратно в средновековието. Кое е следващото - отмяна на правото за гласуване и на образование и затваряне в кухнята?
🗒 Първоначално ревю:
”Жената с труден характер не е невъзпитана, дребнава или злобна. Тя просто не се страхува да бъде неудобна, ако случаят го изисква; и твърдоглава, ако някой се опита да я избута встрани. Не я интерес��ва дали “винаги е било така”.
Хелън Люис определено раздвижва пластове. Пластове от спомени, представи, стереотипи, възгледи. Опитва се да (пре)дефинира движението, подето от "втория пол" (по определението на Симон дьо Бовоар), да изпълзи от сенките на историята, предрасъдъците и патриархата, за да заеме по-видимо място под слънцето. Извън трите К (Kueche, Kinder, Kirche = Кухня, Деца, Църква).
През 21-ви век феминизмът все още е противоречиво понятие, макар и не по начина и по причините от 19-ти и 20-ти век. Допадна ми подходът на Люис да се върне към първоизточника на движението за права на жените и защо изобщо е възникнал феминизмът. Всяко движение за права се бори за справедливост, която политическото, социалното, културното статукво не предвиждат.
Единайсетте тематични глави в книгата са единайсет ключови фокус точки, в които и днес на места жените са втора категория хора.
Правото на развод е изключително трудно извоювано, и там заслуга имат гласовитите аристократки с политически връзки от 19-ти век (и с прецакан от брака живот). В свирепо-католическа Ирландия това право е дадено едва през 1995 г., с едва 50,28% от гласовете на реферерендума. Гласуването е друга щекотлива тема, вбесявала английските перове от камарата на лордовете и еквивалента им в други държави. Суфра��етките, известни с често насилствените си методи, арестувани и хранени насила (то и сега е опасна процедура) в затворите, все пак оказват въздействие. Опознаването на собственото тяло (вместо живописната, култивирана, така възхвалявана като прелестна наивност и невежество със смъртоносни понякога последствия), правото на аборт и контрацепция (като липсата му и днес води до смъртни случаи в иначе цивилизовани държави както доскоро в Ирландия, а лекарите не смеят да спасят живот в опасност, за да не се отклонят от бюрократичния протокол). Правото на упражняване на достойна професия с равностойното и заплащане, както и на достойно образование, отказвани само допреди 100 години като биологично (?!) неприсъщи на женския пол. Правото на открито и честно сексуално самоопределение при лесбийки и друга не-хетеро ориентация.
Това "завръщане" към фундамента на феминизма е един добър повод за преосмисляне на днешния ден. За много неща днешната жена в богатия свят може да се шегува, зmкато за тях майка и е била на нокти, а баба и не ги е и сънувала. Даже ми се струва, че в бившия Източен Блок някои от тези процеси са били доста по-интензивини отколкото на Запад, особено след втората световна война, когато много от условията за равни възможности за реализация на жените са заложени в законодателствата, поне в българското. Маркс и Енгелс не са били противници на жените. А и част от тези общества, по определението на Симон дьо Бовоар, са били "селски" - жените са участвали в работата по реколтата, а не са били затворени в замъци или дамски салони с корсети - така че част от условията в Обединеното Кралство никога не са съществували в този си вид, и преходът се е осъществил по различен начин.
Друг ценен момент при Люис е, че тя се завръща здравомислещата теза, че прогресът не иска морално съвършенство и повърхностна политкоректност. И че тъкмо противоречивите, често залитащи в различни крайности, личности, прокарали обаче важни реформи, са много по-ценни в общочовешки план от политкоректните папагали, задовляващи се със статуси в социалните мрежи и на които им липсва каквато и да е критичност и целенасочени действия. Или от изкукуригалите индивиди, правещи доноси в полицията срещу майки, оставили детето за 5 минути само в колата, докато му купуват лекарство от аптеката. Старата поговорка - лозето не ще молитва, а мотика.
Третият принос на Люис към темата за феминизма е обвързването и с куп други неразривно преплетени проблеми на дискриминацията. Дискриминация по раса, класа и сексуална ориентация, които стават двойно по-тежки, когато са съчетани и със женомразство и сексизъм.
Хелън Люис се фокусира изцяло върху примери от Обединеното Кралство, които често ми звучаха екзотично, като мъжките клубове за аристократи, явяващи се затворени социални и лобистки организации, една от причините поради които и днес в британския парламент и институции няма голям брой жени. Или пък борбата на група жени да имат право да пият на бар за юристи-мъже. Както и някои доста екзотично звучащи ми битки от по-ново време на ЛБГТ общността - например трансжените (непретърпели операция), обвиняващи лесбийките в тесногръдие, т.к. не ги искат за партньори. Ама как да ги искат - нали те технически са мъже?! Тези моменти стесниха картината до един-единствен остров, лишен от по-широка перспектива.
Напомнянето обаче е ценно. Средновековието често е само на някакви си 100 години разстояние, а в някои части на света е в процес на реконкиста или никога не си е тръгвало. Основите на всеки прогрес са доста крехки. И трябва да ги укрепваме.
***
▶️ Цитати:
🚺 “Ако съвременният феминизъм изглежда беззъб, то е, защото се е свил до два режима: празно прославяме или фиктивна борба с отявлените гадняри. Нито един от тях не се захваща с трудни задачи и поради това не мoже да промени нищо.”
🚺 “Аз лично така и не успях да разбера какво точно е феминизмът. Знам само, че хората ме наричат феминистка всеки път, когато изкажа мнение, което ме отличава от изтривалка или проститутка.”
Ребека Уест, 1913 г.
🚺 “Понякога, когато си мисля за феминисткото движение, се питам: “Как ни го натресоха това?”
🚺 “Женските дрехи са направени за красота, не за живот, а с тежките табута … за изпотяване уши цапане … се държат на практика обездвижени.”
🚺 “Да смущаваш и да излагаш хората е емоционално изтощителна работа.”
🚺 “Съвр��менните движения за освобождение често са мързеливи и приемат за даденост, че може да се намери просто решение…”
🚺 “Никой не “притежава” феминизма”
🚺 “Квотите предизвикват гневна съпротива и понякога карат хората да манипулират правилата, вместо да решат належащите проблеми.”
🚺 “Да носиш отговорност за собственото си щастие, по странна ирония е вид бреме.”
🚺 “Феминизмът винаги ще бъде трудно начинание.”
🚺 “Феминизмът трябва да се бори с тиранията на вежливостта.”
🚺 “Безукорни феминистки няма.”
След като Върховният съд на САЩ отмени конституционно гарантираното право на аборт, и част от южните и западните щати моментално скокнаха с вече подготвена пълна забрана на аборта на тяхна територия (включително без значение на здравословни причини или поради изнасилване), книги като тази стават още по-важни. Не става дума за глупости от сорта на движения като #metoo, които са изпразнени от смисъл и дълбочина. Става дума за фундамент на живота, извоюван относително наскоро и торпилиран от религиозни екстремисти обратно в средновековието. Кое е следващото - отмяна на правото за гласуване и на образование и затваряне в кухнята?
🗒 Първоначално ревю:
”Жената с труден характер не е невъзпитана, дребнава или злобна. Тя просто не се страхува да бъде неудобна, ако случаят го изисква; и твърдоглава, ако някой се опита да я избута встрани. Не я интерес��ва дали “винаги е било така”.
Хелън Люис определено раздвижва пластове. Пластове от спомени, представи, стереотипи, възгледи. Опитва се да (пре)дефинира движението, подето от "втория пол" (по определението на Симон дьо Бовоар), да изпълзи от сенките на историята, предрасъдъците и патриархата, за да заеме по-видимо място под слънцето. Извън трите К (Kueche, Kinder, Kirche = Кухня, Деца, Църква).
През 21-ви век феминизмът все още е противоречиво понятие, макар и не по начина и по причините от 19-ти и 20-ти век. Допадна ми подходът на Люис да се върне към първоизточника на движението за права на жените и защо изобщо е възникнал феминизмът. Всяко движение за права се бори за справедливост, която политическото, социалното, културното статукво не предвиждат.
Единайсетте тематични глави в книгата са единайсет ключови фокус точки, в които и днес на места жените са втора категория хора.
Правото на развод е изключително трудно извоювано, и там заслуга имат гласовитите аристократки с политически връзки от 19-ти век (и с прецакан от брака живот). В свирепо-католическа Ирландия това право е дадено едва през 1995 г., с едва 50,28% от гласовете на реферерендума. Гласуването е друга щекотлива тема, вбесявала английските перове от камарата на лордовете и еквивалента им в други държави. Суфра��етките, известни с често насилствените си методи, арестувани и хранени насила (то и сега е опасна процедура) в затворите, все пак оказват въздействие. Опознаването на собственото тяло (вместо живописната, култивирана, така възхвалявана като прелестна наивност и невежество със смъртоносни понякога последствия), правото на аборт и контрацепция (като липсата му и днес води до смъртни случаи в иначе цивилизовани държави както доскоро в Ирландия, а лекарите не смеят да спасят живот в опасност, за да не се отклонят от бюрократичния протокол). Правото на упражняване на достойна професия с равностойното и заплащане, както и на достойно образование, отказвани само допреди 100 години като биологично (?!) неприсъщи на женския пол. Правото на открито и честно сексуално самоопределение при лесбийки и друга не-хетеро ориентация.
Това "завръщане" към фундамента на феминизма е един добър повод за преосмисляне на днешния ден. За много неща днешната жена в богатия свят може да се шегува, зmкато за тях майка и е била на нокти, а баба и не ги е и сънувала. Даже ми се струва, че в бившия Източен Блок някои от тези процеси са били доста по-интензивини отколкото на Запад, особено след втората световна война, когато много от условията за равни възможности за реализация на жените са заложени в законодателствата, поне в българското. Маркс и Енгелс не са били противници на жените. А и част от тези общества, по определението на Симон дьо Бовоар, са били "селски" - жените са участвали в работата по реколтата, а не са били затворени в замъци или дамски салони с корсети - така че част от условията в Обединеното Кралство никога не са съществували в този си вид, и преходът се е осъществил по различен начин.
Друг ценен момент при Люис е, че тя се завръща здравомислещата теза, че прогресът не иска морално съвършенство и повърхностна политкоректност. И че тъкмо противоречивите, често залитащи в различни крайности, личности, прокарали обаче важни реформи, са много по-ценни в общочовешки план от политкоректните папагали, задовляващи се със статуси в социалните мрежи и на които им липсва каквато и да е критичност и целенасочени действия. Или от изкукуригалите индивиди, правещи доноси в полицията срещу майки, оставили детето за 5 минути само в колата, докато му купуват лекарство от аптеката. Старата поговорка - лозето не ще молитва, а мотика.
Третият принос на Люис към темата за феминизма е обвързването и с куп други неразривно преплетени проблеми на дискриминацията. Дискриминация по раса, класа и сексуална ориентация, които стават двойно по-тежки, когато са съчетани и със женомразство и сексизъм.
Хелън Люис се фокусира изцяло върху примери от Обединеното Кралство, които често ми звучаха екзотично, като мъжките клубове за аристократи, явяващи се затворени социални и лобистки организации, една от причините поради които и днес в британския парламент и институции няма голям брой жени. Или пък борбата на група жени да имат право да пият на бар за юристи-мъже. Както и някои доста екзотично звучащи ми битки от по-ново време на ЛБГТ общността - например трансжените (непретърпели операция), обвиняващи лесбийките в тесногръдие, т.к. не ги искат за партньори. Ама как да ги искат - нали те технически са мъже?! Тези моменти стесниха картината до един-единствен остров, лишен от по-широка перспектива.
Напомнянето обаче е ценно. Средновековието често е само на някакви си 100 години разстояние, а в някои части на света е в процес на реконкиста или никога не си е тръгвало. Основите на всеки прогрес са доста крехки. И трябва да ги укрепваме.
***
▶️ Цитати:
🚺 “Ако съвременният феминизъм изглежда беззъб, то е, защото се е свил до два режима: празно прославяме или фиктивна борба с отявлените гадняри. Нито един от тях не се захваща с трудни задачи и поради това не мoже да промени нищо.”
🚺 “Аз лично така и не успях да разбера какво точно е феминизмът. Знам само, че хората ме наричат феминистка всеки път, когато изкажа мнение, което ме отличава от изтривалка или проститутка.”
Ребека Уест, 1913 г.
🚺 “Понякога, когато си мисля за феминисткото движение, се питам: “Как ни го натресоха това?”
🚺 “Женските дрехи са направени за красота, не за живот, а с тежките табута … за изпотяване уши цапане … се държат на практика обездвижени.”
🚺 “Да смущаваш и да излагаш хората е емоционално изтощителна работа.”
🚺 “Съвр��менните движения за освобождение често са мързеливи и приемат за даденост, че може да се намери просто решение…”
🚺 “Никой не “притежава” феминизма”
🚺 “Квотите предизвикват гневна съпротива и понякога карат хората да манипулират правилата, вместо да решат належащите проблеми.”
🚺 “Да носиш отговорност за собственото си щастие, по странна ирония е вид бреме.”
🚺 “Феминизмът винаги ще бъде трудно начинание.”
🚺 “Феминизмът трябва да се бори с тиранията на вежливостта.”
🚺 “Безукорни феминистки няма.”
June 11, 2020
I discovered Helen Lewis' 'Difficult Women : A History of Feminism in 11 Fights' when I was browsing in the bookshop last week. There was only one copy in the bookshop and the book looked very fascinating and I couldn't resist getting it.
In 'Difficult Women : A History of Feminism in 11 Fights', Helen Lewis tries to gives us an unconventional history of feminism. She looks at feminism in the past 150 years through 11 different themes, or fights as she calls them. Many of the themes are familiar to us, like the right to education, the right to vote, the right to equal pay etc. But the fascinating thing about the book is this. Though Helen Lewis mentions some of the feminist pioneers, she mentions them mostly in passing. What she does is, she goes and searches for and discovers the feminists who were well known or who played important roles during their time, but who are forgotten today, either because they have complex, inconvenient histories, or they fell out with other prominent feminists and so have been written out of history, or they were not considered feminists during their time, or they have just been plain ignored. These are the difficult women that Helen Lewis writes about.
What follows is an wonderful list of amazing women and their inspiring achievements – like the footballer Lily Parr who was so famous for her football skills that she and her team used to draw crowds of 50,000 during the 1910s, Jayaben Desai who led one of the biggest worker strikes in the '70s demanding better pay and benefits, Erin Prizzey who has been written out of feminist history today but who during her time ran the first refuges in Britain for victims of domestic violence, Maureen Colquhoun the first ever lesbian MP from Britain whom everyone seems to have forgotten now, Sophia Jex-Blake who alongwith six other women fought for the right of women to pursue a medical education and inspite of the universities trying every trick to deny them that education, how she and her friends finally won and became the first female doctors in Britain – the book tells the stories of these and other amazing women. When I read what Colette Devlin – who as a 67-year old, fought for abortion rights alongside two other friends in Northern Ireland – said :
"I believe that I have a legal duty to uphold good law, but I have a moral duty to disobey bad law."
I got goosebumps.
'Difficult Women' is a beautiful, wonderful, inspiring book, which is guaranteed to make you angry and happy, and give you goosebumps. I am glad I read it.
Have you read 'Difficult Women'? What do you think about it?
In 'Difficult Women : A History of Feminism in 11 Fights', Helen Lewis tries to gives us an unconventional history of feminism. She looks at feminism in the past 150 years through 11 different themes, or fights as she calls them. Many of the themes are familiar to us, like the right to education, the right to vote, the right to equal pay etc. But the fascinating thing about the book is this. Though Helen Lewis mentions some of the feminist pioneers, she mentions them mostly in passing. What she does is, she goes and searches for and discovers the feminists who were well known or who played important roles during their time, but who are forgotten today, either because they have complex, inconvenient histories, or they fell out with other prominent feminists and so have been written out of history, or they were not considered feminists during their time, or they have just been plain ignored. These are the difficult women that Helen Lewis writes about.
What follows is an wonderful list of amazing women and their inspiring achievements – like the footballer Lily Parr who was so famous for her football skills that she and her team used to draw crowds of 50,000 during the 1910s, Jayaben Desai who led one of the biggest worker strikes in the '70s demanding better pay and benefits, Erin Prizzey who has been written out of feminist history today but who during her time ran the first refuges in Britain for victims of domestic violence, Maureen Colquhoun the first ever lesbian MP from Britain whom everyone seems to have forgotten now, Sophia Jex-Blake who alongwith six other women fought for the right of women to pursue a medical education and inspite of the universities trying every trick to deny them that education, how she and her friends finally won and became the first female doctors in Britain – the book tells the stories of these and other amazing women. When I read what Colette Devlin – who as a 67-year old, fought for abortion rights alongside two other friends in Northern Ireland – said :
"I believe that I have a legal duty to uphold good law, but I have a moral duty to disobey bad law."
I got goosebumps.
'Difficult Women' is a beautiful, wonderful, inspiring book, which is guaranteed to make you angry and happy, and give you goosebumps. I am glad I read it.
Have you read 'Difficult Women'? What do you think about it?
July 17, 2021
DNF- Negative views of sex work and terf-y vibes when talking about trans people
October 11, 2020
Interesting stories, indeed. I was hoping to read more a more detailed account, but beyond the catchy title, I found nothing I had not read before.
I was tempted to leave the book back in my bookcase, but I am not sure that is even the right place for that book.
The language is also repetitive and
More specidically, mocking non binary humans and calling people male-bodied is so 80's.
Trying not to impose a TERF agenda, by seemingly not taking sides does not make you a non transphobic person.
You are either transphobic or not.
I am now sure that whoever chose the title was genius.I realised gradually that the book was a waste of time. Not bwcausw it had nothing to say. On the contrary, there could have been more details about feminists in the workplace etc, but the author opted foa a quick fight against intersectionalists.
All in all, I want my money back
I was tempted to leave the book back in my bookcase, but I am not sure that is even the right place for that book.
The language is also repetitive and
More specidically, mocking non binary humans and calling people male-bodied is so 80's.
Trying not to impose a TERF agenda, by seemingly not taking sides does not make you a non transphobic person.
You are either transphobic or not.
I am now sure that whoever chose the title was genius.I realised gradually that the book was a waste of time. Not bwcausw it had nothing to say. On the contrary, there could have been more details about feminists in the workplace etc, but the author opted foa a quick fight against intersectionalists.
All in all, I want my money back
March 5, 2020
Very important topic and stories. The book has the merit of highlighting the plight and fights (most often, against the odds) of important feminist figures but I found it to be absolutely terribly written. I had to do extra research after each chapter to understand better what particular cases, movements or feminist figures represented. I found the writing to be very chaotic, overloaded with useless examples and interposing random facts in the middle of a story. You're better off reading other books on these subjects or online sources.
March 19, 2020
‘The idea of role models is not necessarily a bad one, but the way they are used in feminism can dilute a radical political movement into feel-good inspiration porn.’
A wonderfully unconventional history of feminism that rejects the static image of female revolutionaries as suffering saints.
Lewis has a sharp and witty style, and her objective is clear from the onset: championing lesser known figures, such as Marie Bonaparte (who conducted pioneering research into female sexual pleasure), Caroline Norton and Erin Pizzey, and all their complications. Whilst the early chapters are highly readable – ‘Sex’ is particularly fascinating, detailing ‘the myth of the vaginal orgasm’, hell yes – the later instalments lose their authority. Lewis’ prose strays occasionally into irrelevant anecdote and becomes increasingly saturated with fact and quotation to the point where her voice no longer guides the reader. It seems that she attempts to shoehorn in as many obscure figures as possible; so many ‘difficult women’ jostle for attention in these later chapters that Lewis ultimately loses her thread of argument. As a result, the engagement wanes exponentially; I skim-read from about the halfway mark.
It is an incredibly important argument that Lewis hopes to make here, and her intentions are honourable – but the lengthy execution lacks focus.
With thanks to the publisher for the proof copy.
A wonderfully unconventional history of feminism that rejects the static image of female revolutionaries as suffering saints.
Lewis has a sharp and witty style, and her objective is clear from the onset: championing lesser known figures, such as Marie Bonaparte (who conducted pioneering research into female sexual pleasure), Caroline Norton and Erin Pizzey, and all their complications. Whilst the early chapters are highly readable – ‘Sex’ is particularly fascinating, detailing ‘the myth of the vaginal orgasm’, hell yes – the later instalments lose their authority. Lewis’ prose strays occasionally into irrelevant anecdote and becomes increasingly saturated with fact and quotation to the point where her voice no longer guides the reader. It seems that she attempts to shoehorn in as many obscure figures as possible; so many ‘difficult women’ jostle for attention in these later chapters that Lewis ultimately loses her thread of argument. As a result, the engagement wanes exponentially; I skim-read from about the halfway mark.
It is an incredibly important argument that Lewis hopes to make here, and her intentions are honourable – but the lengthy execution lacks focus.
With thanks to the publisher for the proof copy.
April 18, 2021
Interesting concept, however, I found the author’s perspective on sex work and transgender and non binary people really off putting.
The dismissive way the author refers to people defining their own identity when it doesn’t fit within their own surprisingly narrow perspective of what is acceptable also made me uncomfortable.
The dismissive way the author refers to people defining their own identity when it doesn’t fit within their own surprisingly narrow perspective of what is acceptable also made me uncomfortable.
January 16, 2022
Ein Buch über die Geschichte vom Feminismus. Interessanter Read und die Autorin schreibt witzige Anmerkungen.
December 29, 2021
Стандартен либерален западен феминизъм, но имаше някои интересни разкази за по-радикални жени от миналото. Любимите са ми лесбийките сепаратистки от 70те. Страхотно е да четеш нещо скандално есктремно и да не можеш да намериш никаква логическа пробойна в аргументацията. Показва ти колко нелогични, необосновани, дори и вредни положения сме способни не само да приемем за нормални, но и да издигнем в култ и идеал, така че предложената логична, обоснована или нужна положителна промяна да изглежда като тероризъм.
Хелън Люис обаче ми се струва малко не съвсем ориентирана в някои от областите, в които навлиза книгата ѝ. Предполагам, че е неизбежно, предвид супер широкото платно, на което работи - история на феминизма в 11 извоювани или полуизвоювани права и свободи (развод, право на глас, секс, спорт, работа, безопасност, любов, образование, време, аборт и правото да не бъдеш съвършената сгодна женица). Освен това стилът ѝ изобщо не ми харесва - малко самонадеян, разхвърлян, твърде фамилиарен на моменти.
Историите на отделните жени сами по себе си са страхотно интересни; и колкото по-"трудни", тоест нелесни за преглъщане са, толкова по-интригуващи са случаите им. Например Ерин Пизи, която е отворила първото убежище за пострадали от домашно насилие жени в Англия, без да пита и да чака разрешение, просто го е открила и е започнала да приема жени, но е мразела стръвно феминистките и тогава, и сега - сега пише за човешката утайка MRAs. Едно нещо, което ги обединява, е че не са се притеснявали от неодобрението на мъжете, не им е пукало дали ще ги наричат космати, грозни, лесбийки, дали им викат, дали ще им се подиграват, дали феминизмът няма да им опетни безценната женствена репутация. При доста значителен отпор са вършили какво ли не, за да прокарат идеите си за по-голяма справедливост в обществото.
Книгата има две основни идеи: първата е да помним миналото, за да не се налага да го повтаряме. Също и защото историята на жените и техните борби редовно се изтрива, забравя или изобщо не се пише. Втората е, че не е нужно да си идеалната жена, нито идеалната феминистка, за да постигнеш нещо в борбата на жените - и да бъдеш запомнена с него. И наистина това е доста навременно в епохата на зачеркване на всеки, който не е живял безукорен живот. Точно както не е нужно да си образцова жена, за да заслужиш равни права, не е нужно да си съвършена феминистка, за да заслужиш постиженията ти да бъдат признати. Действително има нужда от връзка и диалог между полоколенията във феминизма, от по-добра информираност за миналите битки, не на последно място и за да знаем какво да очакваме от опозицията (тя няма голямо въображение, през всичките феминистки вълни тактиките и реториката на мъжкоцентричното статукво са едни и същи).
За втори път превеждам феминистки материал от западен автор на български и отново ми е малко особено - просто положението на жените не съвпада точно и много неща, които там се разбират от само себе си, тук просто не важат. На��ример повтарянето на breadwinner/housewife model. В България такъв модел е просъществувал за някакви си 50 години в една смехотворно малобройна прослойка. Ние дори нямаме дума за breadwinner, дотолкова непозната ни е установката 1 човек издържа цяло семейство.
Хелън Люис обаче ми се струва малко не съвсем ориентирана в някои от областите, в които навлиза книгата ѝ. Предполагам, че е неизбежно, предвид супер широкото платно, на което работи - история на феминизма в 11 извоювани или полуизвоювани права и свободи (развод, право на глас, секс, спорт, работа, безопасност, любов, образование, време, аборт и правото да не бъдеш съвършената сгодна женица). Освен това стилът ѝ изобщо не ми харесва - малко самонадеян, разхвърлян, твърде фамилиарен на моменти.
Историите на отделните жени сами по себе си са страхотно интересни; и колкото по-"трудни", тоест нелесни за преглъщане са, толкова по-интригуващи са случаите им. Например Ерин Пизи, която е отворила първото убежище за пострадали от домашно насилие жени в Англия, без да пита и да чака разрешение, просто го е открила и е започнала да приема жени, но е мразела стръвно феминистките и тогава, и сега - сега пише за човешката утайка MRAs. Едно нещо, което ги обединява, е че не са се притеснявали от неодобрението на мъжете, не им е пукало дали ще ги наричат космати, грозни, лесбийки, дали им викат, дали ще им се подиграват, дали феминизмът няма да им опетни безценната женствена репутация. При доста значителен отпор са вършили какво ли не, за да прокарат идеите си за по-голяма справедливост в обществото.
Книгата има две основни идеи: първата е да помним миналото, за да не се налага да го повтаряме. Също и защото историята на жените и техните борби редовно се изтрива, забравя или изобщо не се пише. Втората е, че не е нужно да си идеалната жена, нито идеалната феминистка, за да постигнеш нещо в борбата на жените - и да бъдеш запомнена с него. И наистина това е доста навременно в епохата на зачеркване на всеки, който не е живял безукорен живот. Точно както не е нужно да си образцова жена, за да заслужиш равни права, не е нужно да си съвършена феминистка, за да заслужиш постиженията ти да бъдат признати. Действително има нужда от връзка и диалог между полоколенията във феминизма, от по-добра информираност за миналите битки, не на последно място и за да знаем какво да очакваме от опозицията (тя няма голямо въображение, през всичките феминистки вълни тактиките и реториката на мъжкоцентричното статукво са едни и същи).
За втори път превеждам феминистки материал от западен автор на български и отново ми е малко особено - просто положението на жените не съвпада точно и много неща, които там се разбират от само себе си, тук просто не важат. На��ример повтарянето на breadwinner/housewife model. В България такъв модел е просъществувал за някакви си 50 години в една смехотворно малобройна прослойка. Ние дори нямаме дума за breadwinner, дотолкова непозната ни е установката 1 човек издържа цяло семейство.
January 24, 2023
Whatever your opinion on Helen Lewis, this is a book jam-packed full of histories, fights, struggles, rebels, agitators, and injustices.
It's easy to get complacent, but it wasn't that long ago that women were treated as property, unable to vote, inherit, wear trousers, work or play.
Historically they have been excluded from power and education, abused, disenfranchised, discriminated against, sometimes having no autonomy over even their own bodies. These stories need to be told, the battles of these women remembered and ongoing injustices need to be brought to light so that progress can continue.
These chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of female oppression, are engagingly written, well researched and mostly completely enraging. To be a woman in the 1910s or the 1970s must have sucked. I can only imagine how restrictive and infuriating I would have found things.
As Lewis often points out, when a breakthrough is made, it is easy to forget the struggles that came before. She does a great job of evoking what life was like for different women in different time periods.
I did find later chapters slipped further into polemic. Earlier chapters seemed to me to be more impartial and balanced: giving a more rounded view of the complexities involved in each subject. I don't know if this is a genuine reflection of the content, or if I was just in a more devil's advocatey mood later on.
Does Lewis have blindspots when it comes to certain arguments that haven't been fully explored? Maybe. Could her feminism be more inclusive? Probably. But you don't have to agree with everything someone says for them to produce a valuable work. To quote Lewis:
"There is no such thing as a flawless feminist."
Overall, this was an excellent whistle-stop tour of some of the most historically important issues in feminism. I learned about many interesting women and hope to learn about many more.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who isn't sure what all the fuss is about when it comes to feminism. It really brings it home.
It's easy to get complacent, but it wasn't that long ago that women were treated as property, unable to vote, inherit, wear trousers, work or play.
Historically they have been excluded from power and education, abused, disenfranchised, discriminated against, sometimes having no autonomy over even their own bodies. These stories need to be told, the battles of these women remembered and ongoing injustices need to be brought to light so that progress can continue.
These chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of female oppression, are engagingly written, well researched and mostly completely enraging. To be a woman in the 1910s or the 1970s must have sucked. I can only imagine how restrictive and infuriating I would have found things.
As Lewis often points out, when a breakthrough is made, it is easy to forget the struggles that came before. She does a great job of evoking what life was like for different women in different time periods.
I did find later chapters slipped further into polemic. Earlier chapters seemed to me to be more impartial and balanced: giving a more rounded view of the complexities involved in each subject. I don't know if this is a genuine reflection of the content, or if I was just in a more devil's advocatey mood later on.
Does Lewis have blindspots when it comes to certain arguments that haven't been fully explored? Maybe. Could her feminism be more inclusive? Probably. But you don't have to agree with everything someone says for them to produce a valuable work. To quote Lewis:
"There is no such thing as a flawless feminist."
Overall, this was an excellent whistle-stop tour of some of the most historically important issues in feminism. I learned about many interesting women and hope to learn about many more.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who isn't sure what all the fuss is about when it comes to feminism. It really brings it home.
February 26, 2020
This is an excellent primer on and fascinating insight into the history of feminism (UK-focused but global in reach) that I would gleefully shove into the hands of younger people in particular. I considered myself pretty across most of the topics discussed but still feel I learned a great deal, especially about lesser-known women (learning about Lily Parr, all along, was the key to getting me interested in sport!) and the infighting endemic to any struggle for progress because PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE and women have to be particularly so to get anywhere worthwhile! What a wonderful beacon this book is to embrace complexity and resist sanitising/ignoring/whitewashing the women's movement.
I tabbed so many quotes and I want to print out the 'manifesto for difficult women' at the end to keep it on me at all times. Most of all I just really appreciated Lewis’ humanising and deeply felt portraits of the thorny and glorious women involved in the fights for feminism, because they made me feel more connected to a movement I’ve been feeling alienated from lately. Also laudable is Lewis’ push for continued collective action on specific fronts, rather than getting bogged down trying to have the best and wokest brand of feminism. She puts it well: “Since we live in a deeply individualist society, debates over women’s choices… will never struggle to get airtime. In this climate, the most radical thing we can do is resist turning feminism into a referendum on [our] choices. Let’s swim against the tide by talking about what we can do together.” Throughout this book Lewis calls for a feminism that makes demands on power, rather than what she calls “feminism-lite” - the kind that would ask women ‘lean in’. Fuck that. She writes: “If feminism doesn’t frighten people with power, it is toothless.”
Lewis herself presents some difficult opinions I have no doubt some will find hard to swallow (and I wonder if at times she reigned those in so that this book would have a wider appeal). She is also very funny, especially in her footnotes. I feel more intellectually rounded and motivated for having read this, and I would recommend it to anybody seeking to understand what it really took to get to where we are today.
I tabbed so many quotes and I want to print out the 'manifesto for difficult women' at the end to keep it on me at all times. Most of all I just really appreciated Lewis’ humanising and deeply felt portraits of the thorny and glorious women involved in the fights for feminism, because they made me feel more connected to a movement I’ve been feeling alienated from lately. Also laudable is Lewis’ push for continued collective action on specific fronts, rather than getting bogged down trying to have the best and wokest brand of feminism. She puts it well: “Since we live in a deeply individualist society, debates over women’s choices… will never struggle to get airtime. In this climate, the most radical thing we can do is resist turning feminism into a referendum on [our] choices. Let’s swim against the tide by talking about what we can do together.” Throughout this book Lewis calls for a feminism that makes demands on power, rather than what she calls “feminism-lite” - the kind that would ask women ‘lean in’. Fuck that. She writes: “If feminism doesn’t frighten people with power, it is toothless.”
Lewis herself presents some difficult opinions I have no doubt some will find hard to swallow (and I wonder if at times she reigned those in so that this book would have a wider appeal). She is also very funny, especially in her footnotes. I feel more intellectually rounded and motivated for having read this, and I would recommend it to anybody seeking to understand what it really took to get to where we are today.
April 2, 2020
Feminism is complicated and so are the women who fight for their rights. It is rare to read a book on this subject that does not hail the movement's heroines as perfect women, that speaks about the complicated issues that dominate the movement or even dare touch the subjects of the fighting, cancelling and namecalling of feminists amongst each other. It's a subject fraught with division. I think that Helen Lewis did a great job of giving glimpses of just how complicated and complex feminism is and how far there is to go. Yes, at times, she struggles a bit to make the chapters more coherent, but sleeping on it I guess this was inevitable. I did disagree with her on certain things, but this is definitely a book that invites the opinion of others to the table. It was the first book on this subject in a long time that told me things I had not heard about before and where I felt that one can be a complex woman and still have a place at the feminist table. As a very clever friend of mine once said: "You will get more things wrong in life than right, but the things you get right will make all the difference."
February 11, 2020
Difficult Women looks at the history of Feminism, in particular it's history in the UK, although she does cite examples from around the world. The chapters look at divorce, love, the vote, education, sex, safety, work, play, abortion, time and the right to be difficult. Lewis highlights many forgotten women who challenged society and fought to be seen as equal to their male counterparts. This is not a rose coloured view of feminism, these women had to be 'difficult' and vocal in their fight, she also accepts that although we can admire what these women achieved we also can see that they are flawed, as we all are.
As a read, this is easy to read, entertaining, inspiring and most importantly educational. It's a fascinating read, some of these pioneering women you will have heard of, others have been forgotten,
she offers insights into their personal lives as well as what drove them in their fight for change. A worthy read.
As a read, this is easy to read, entertaining, inspiring and most importantly educational. It's a fascinating read, some of these pioneering women you will have heard of, others have been forgotten,
she offers insights into their personal lives as well as what drove them in their fight for change. A worthy read.
Read
January 21, 2024A lively history of the struggle for women's rights in the UK that will make you wish Lewis would migrate to the US to write one for us, too. With lots of snark without getting nasty, Lewis creates a series of vignettes of various rights (divorce, the vote, gay rights, equal pay, etc.) each based around the life and times of a single iconic woman and always a "difficult" one. Great epigrams and great footnotes, too. An informative and amusing read.
September 30, 2020
Ако сте дочули нещо за лекия скандал около туит на Дж. К. Роулинг и обвиненията, че е трансфоб... Е, тръгват от тази жена - Хелън Люис. :)
Трудно ми е да опиша тази книга. Преди няколко месеца прочетох "Invisible Women" и беше просветляваща книга, но ме разгневи и предизвика много възмущение в мен. Докато тази ме накара за първи път в живота ми да се чувствам признателна за всичко, което жени преди мен са постигнали по отношение на женските права. Повечето от тези права не са били нищо повече от блян до преди 50-100 години.
Книгата е разделена на теми като развод, секс, любов, работа и т.н. Всяка тема е в отделна глава и авторката споделя нейната интерпретация и информация относно историята на правата на жените в UK по конкретната проблемна категория.
Хелън Люис знае как да пише - забавно, информативно и е постигнала онзи много тънък баланс как да се изразиш достатъчно твърдо, но и достатъчно ясно, че количеството обидили се на една дума - да е минимално.
Книгата си заслужава да се прочете. Толкова много жените говорят, че трябва се подкрепяме и т.н., но тази книга показва реално какво означава това. Да подкрепяш една жена, дори когато изборите, които прави на теб ти се струват напълно грешни. Говори за това колко още дълъг път има пред феминизма... Защото, четейки книгата, а и на база мои лични проучвания, все още живеем в свят, в който жената ако забременее и не иска да запази детето си, ТРЯБВА да мине през невероятно количество документация, емоционално напрежение, унижение и стрес, че да получи нужното й хапче или процедура. А, не трябва да е така. Женското тяло принадлежи на жената и дори за пети път да иска да направи аборт, това си е нейният избор. Говорят за правото на живот, но кой може да каже дали този ембрион всъщност иска да живее? Никой. А бременната жена, която не иска да е бременна? Няма ли право на живот и да не е девет месеца инкубатор? Явно няма. Да заявяваш права над женското тяло, само защото те е шубе, че населението намалява, показва слабост и идиотизъм, защото историята е доказала, че като се опитваш да потискаш - резултатът е точно обратния. :)
Страхотна книга - прочетете я. Ако има тема, с която чувствате силна връзка и въобще ако искате да се надъхате и изпълните с чувство на гордост и адмирации, че сте жена - прочетете я. :)
Трудно ми е да опиша тази книга. Преди няколко месеца прочетох "Invisible Women" и беше просветляваща книга, но ме разгневи и предизвика много възмущение в мен. Докато тази ме накара за първи път в живота ми да се чувствам признателна за всичко, което жени преди мен са постигнали по отношение на женските права. Повечето от тези права не са били нищо повече от блян до преди 50-100 години.
Книгата е разделена на теми като развод, секс, любов, работа и т.н. Всяка тема е в отделна глава и авторката споделя нейната интерпретация и информация относно историята на правата на жените в UK по конкретната проблемна категория.
Хелън Люис знае как да пише - забавно, информативно и е постигнала онзи много тънък баланс как да се изразиш достатъчно твърдо, но и достатъчно ясно, че количеството обидили се на една дума - да е минимално.
Книгата си заслужава да се прочете. Толкова много жените говорят, че трябва се подкрепяме и т.н., но тази книга показва реално какво означава това. Да подкрепяш една жена, дори когато изборите, които прави на теб ти се струват напълно грешни. Говори за това колко още дълъг път има пред феминизма... Защото, четейки книгата, а и на база мои лични проучвания, все още живеем в свят, в който жената ако забременее и не иска да запази детето си, ТРЯБВА да мине през невероятно количество документация, емоционално напрежение, унижение и стрес, че да получи нужното й хапче или процедура. А, не трябва да е така. Женското тяло принадлежи на жената и дори за пети път да иска да направи аборт, това си е нейният избор. Говорят за правото на живот, но кой може да каже дали този ембрион всъщност иска да живее? Никой. А бременната жена, която не иска да е бременна? Няма ли право на живот и да не е девет месеца инкубатор? Явно няма. Да заявяваш права над женското тяло, само защото те е шубе, че населението намалява, показва слабост и идиотизъм, защото историята е доказала, че като се опитваш да потискаш - резултатът е точно обратния. :)
Страхотна книга - прочетете я. Ако има тема, с която чувствате силна връзка и въобще ако искате да се надъхате и изпълните с чувство на гордост и адмирации, че сте жена - прочетете я. :)
March 31, 2020
I'm a Big Fan of Helen Lewis. I've read her writing for the New Statesman for years, listened to her on the NS podcast, and have seen her speak publicly twice (including an event for the release of this book). So it's no surprise I thought this was great. But I did.
As the name says, it's a history of feminism through 11 'fights'. Some of these are what you'd expect - fundamental rights to vote, get divorced, equal pay, abortion. And some of them are a little less prominent in our collective history - the right to safety (at women's refuge centres, set up in the 1970s), lesbian-specific discrimination, university places for women and the understanding of female orgasms.
The narrative of 'Difficult Women' is also really interesting. She looks at pioneers of the women's movement that have since had key aspects of their politics erased, or simply been ignored, because they don't conform well to modern politics. For example, the Pankhursts are well known now. But how many people know that their tactics would arguably be described as terrorist-like in the modern era? Who knows about the woman who set up the British refuge centres, Erin Pizzey - could it be because she rejected contemporary mainstream politics of 1970s feminism, and now associates with men's rights activists? The first openly gay MP is often quoted as Chris Smith, but what about Maureen Colquhoon, who was outed 9 years earlier - how many prominent lesbians are there in British history?
The structure of the book in these 11 chapters is great, so you can read one evening about Jayaben Desai leading a British Asian women's strike in the 1970s (who knew?), and then pop off to sleep and learn about something completely different the next night.
Fascinating and different.
4.7 / 5
As the name says, it's a history of feminism through 11 'fights'. Some of these are what you'd expect - fundamental rights to vote, get divorced, equal pay, abortion. And some of them are a little less prominent in our collective history - the right to safety (at women's refuge centres, set up in the 1970s), lesbian-specific discrimination, university places for women and the understanding of female orgasms.
The narrative of 'Difficult Women' is also really interesting. She looks at pioneers of the women's movement that have since had key aspects of their politics erased, or simply been ignored, because they don't conform well to modern politics. For example, the Pankhursts are well known now. But how many people know that their tactics would arguably be described as terrorist-like in the modern era? Who knows about the woman who set up the British refuge centres, Erin Pizzey - could it be because she rejected contemporary mainstream politics of 1970s feminism, and now associates with men's rights activists? The first openly gay MP is often quoted as Chris Smith, but what about Maureen Colquhoon, who was outed 9 years earlier - how many prominent lesbians are there in British history?
The structure of the book in these 11 chapters is great, so you can read one evening about Jayaben Desai leading a British Asian women's strike in the 1970s (who knew?), and then pop off to sleep and learn about something completely different the next night.
Fascinating and different.
4.7 / 5
May 10, 2020
This was such a great book. I 'read' it on audiobook and it was narrated by the author, which I think really made it.
Throughout history, feminism has been fought by difficult women. Difficult in the sense that they have been awkward and annoying (according to the patriarchy) in order to achieve their aims because when you're fighting for a cause, you don't really get anywhere by being liked. People like the status quo - it's comforting, even if you're not really benefiting from it - and when someone tries to change it, a lot of people get upset.
The women Helen Lewis focuses on are also have also been difficult to like by fellow feminists. Lewis makes a really salient point in this book, in that one cause cannot hope to speak for 3.5 billion people. My experience of the world, as a woman, is going to be totally different from how a disabled, black woman experiences it and what I need from feminism will be different too. There's no one single aim in feminism, but there is crossover with fights for equal rights for other marginalised groups. She also points out areas where feminism has clashed with fights for other rights (e.g. transgender rights).
Although the chapters each focus on are different aspects of the feminist movement (time, abortion, sex etc) I'd never heard of most of the women mentioned. I now want to go out and find out more about them!
Lewis's writing style reminded me of that of Caitlin Moran and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - intelligent and incisive and approachable.
Have the women in Lewis's book been effective? Undoubtedly, yes. Are they nice people? Not always, no. Feminism isn't about being nice, though. That's the point. It's an imperfect fight for the right to be imperfect.
Throughout history, feminism has been fought by difficult women. Difficult in the sense that they have been awkward and annoying (according to the patriarchy) in order to achieve their aims because when you're fighting for a cause, you don't really get anywhere by being liked. People like the status quo - it's comforting, even if you're not really benefiting from it - and when someone tries to change it, a lot of people get upset.
The women Helen Lewis focuses on are also have also been difficult to like by fellow feminists. Lewis makes a really salient point in this book, in that one cause cannot hope to speak for 3.5 billion people. My experience of the world, as a woman, is going to be totally different from how a disabled, black woman experiences it and what I need from feminism will be different too. There's no one single aim in feminism, but there is crossover with fights for equal rights for other marginalised groups. She also points out areas where feminism has clashed with fights for other rights (e.g. transgender rights).
Although the chapters each focus on are different aspects of the feminist movement (time, abortion, sex etc) I'd never heard of most of the women mentioned. I now want to go out and find out more about them!
Lewis's writing style reminded me of that of Caitlin Moran and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - intelligent and incisive and approachable.
Have the women in Lewis's book been effective? Undoubtedly, yes. Are they nice people? Not always, no. Feminism isn't about being nice, though. That's the point. It's an imperfect fight for the right to be imperfect.
August 16, 2021
Krátke kapitolky z dejín (najmä britského) feminizmu, poučné, vtipné, celé dobré.
Špeciálny bod navyše za to, že feministické hrdinky nie sú žiadne idealizované sväté ženy, ale občas aj celkom čudné postavy s čudnými názormi, lebo, ako to už chodí, na pokrok dosť často potrebujete práve čudných ľudí, ktorí nevedia, čo sa smie a čo sa patrí a ako všetko tradične vždy bolo a nikdy to nikomu neprekážalo.
Špeciálny bod navyše za to, že feministické hrdinky nie sú žiadne idealizované sväté ženy, ale občas aj celkom čudné postavy s čudnými názormi, lebo, ako to už chodí, na pokrok dosť často potrebujete práve čudných ľudí, ktorí nevedia, čo sa smie a čo sa patrí a ako všetko tradične vždy bolo a nikdy to nikomu neprekážalo.
June 8, 2020
If you have ever found someone a ‘difficult women’, this is the book for you to understand why. And for anyone called a ‘difficult woman’ this the perfect book to laugh and cry over and understand why.
A book that tells the stories of why feminists fought each other, why Brigitte Schultz hates the phrase ‘me time’, what the Cat and Mouse Act is and much more , all in 11 sparkling chapters that irradiate the history of the fight for equal rights for women.
From suffragette Christabel Panthurst to footballer Lily Parr to writer activist Selma James, Helen Lewis makes a compelling case for fighters for women rights through the last few centuries. She does a deep dive into their writings, their diaries, their letters, talks to people who researched them or knew them in person. The portraits that emerge of these challengers , their obstinacies and blind spots, their energy and their doughty ability to dispute on, makes this book an erudite and absorbing read.
One of my favourite stories comes early in the book. About the infamous El Vino law in England , that banished women to a back room away from the bar, where they waited patiently for table service. And this till as late as the 1980’s. Which is when journalists Tess Gill & Anne Hook schemed, strategised and invoked the courts to change this outrageous law.
While the El Vino story has a funny ridiculous aspect to it , the stories of suffragettes being force fed are heart rending. It is chilling to note , looking at the history of laws like El Vino or the Cat and Mouse law, how laws were framed deliberately excluding women , from everything from work to playing football.
Difficult Women is packed with history, with varied voices, with opinions, with recommendations for reading. With cogent arguments on so many things. Including why Brigitte Schultz hates the phrase ‘me time’, and ending with a manifesto on how to be a difficult women ! Because no one ever changed the world by being nice.
July 31, 2022
"Together difficult women can change the world!" 4.5 ⭐️
SYNOPSIS:
'"Well-behaved women don’t make history: difficult women do.
Feminism’s success is down to complicated, contradictory, imperfect women, who fought each other as well as fighting for equal rights. Helen Lewis argues that too many of these pioneers have been whitewashed or forgotten in our modern search for feel-good, inspirational heroines. It’s time to reclaim the history of feminism as a history of difficult women.
Drawing on archival research and interviews, Difficult Women is a funny, fearless and sometimes shocking narrative history, which shows why the feminist movement has succeeded – and what it should do next. The battle is difficult, and we must be difficult too."
MY THOUGHTS:
✔️ A brilliant history of the difficult women that have helped progress the fight against the patriarchy and for equal rights.
✔️ Some of the stories were new to me and jaw-dropping.
✔️ This book showcases how much the feminist movement has achieved so far, yet how imperfect some of its activists, who perhaps been intentionally forgotten, have been whilst being pioneering in the movement.
✔️ Inspiring, angering, fascinating and compulsive reading for all.
✔️ This book showcases the unknown women who've fought the fight for equal rights whilst highlighting how far we have still to go.
There were so many good quotes in this book, that it's hard just to mention one (at the start) so here's another that had me shouting 'YES!'
" I believe that I have a legal duty to uphold good law, but I have a moral duty to disobey bad law." by an activist during the fight for abortion rights in Northern Ireland.
SYNOPSIS:
'"Well-behaved women don’t make history: difficult women do.
Feminism’s success is down to complicated, contradictory, imperfect women, who fought each other as well as fighting for equal rights. Helen Lewis argues that too many of these pioneers have been whitewashed or forgotten in our modern search for feel-good, inspirational heroines. It’s time to reclaim the history of feminism as a history of difficult women.
Drawing on archival research and interviews, Difficult Women is a funny, fearless and sometimes shocking narrative history, which shows why the feminist movement has succeeded – and what it should do next. The battle is difficult, and we must be difficult too."
MY THOUGHTS:
✔️ A brilliant history of the difficult women that have helped progress the fight against the patriarchy and for equal rights.
✔️ Some of the stories were new to me and jaw-dropping.
✔️ This book showcases how much the feminist movement has achieved so far, yet how imperfect some of its activists, who perhaps been intentionally forgotten, have been whilst being pioneering in the movement.
✔️ Inspiring, angering, fascinating and compulsive reading for all.
✔️ This book showcases the unknown women who've fought the fight for equal rights whilst highlighting how far we have still to go.
There were so many good quotes in this book, that it's hard just to mention one (at the start) so here's another that had me shouting 'YES!'
" I believe that I have a legal duty to uphold good law, but I have a moral duty to disobey bad law." by an activist during the fight for abortion rights in Northern Ireland.
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